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Abstract
Rarely do White, middle-class Americans, the population from which most teachers are drawn, have the opportunity to consider themselves as racialized beings. Although personal experience is usually the best teacher, our increasingly homogeneous teaching population oftentimes lacks experience with diversity, and schools of education often struggle to find appropriate and meaningful diverse field experiences for their teacher candidates. This study uses a documentary in an attempt to provoke thoughtful conversations about race and racism in the United States among the mostly White teacher candidates. The study identifies racial themes that emerge from the conversations, explores the ways the groups’ racial diversity alters conversations on race, and explores how the race of the group’s facilitator may affect the conversations. The study suggested that racially diverse groups are more likely to explore greater numbers of racial themes and engage each other more deeply through polite disagreement. Although racial diversity of any kind seemed to promote deeper conversations, participants reported greater satisfaction from the conversations when the students themselves were racially diverse rather than with the facilitator alone.
Highlights
Teacher preparation institutions have been charged with the responsibility of creating positive environments where the understanding of diversity can flourish (Ambe, 2006), but there continues to be considerable debate regarding how best to do this
Analysis of entrance surveys indicated approximately half of students considered themselves to be very open to having their ideas challenged and participating in race discussions
Half of the students felt race was a critical issue in the United States today, and only two reported that race required only little to some focus in education
Summary
Teacher preparation institutions have been charged with the responsibility of creating positive environments where the understanding of diversity can flourish (Ambe, 2006), but there continues to be considerable debate regarding how best to do this. This study uses a documentary to instigate race discussions among students in a preservice teacher education program enrolled in an undergraduate diversity course. The second half of the film shifts to focus on racism among and between people of color, but situates interethnic racism within the context and history of White privilege. Despite the film being released almost 20 years ago, it continues to be powerful and pertinent given today’s racial climate in the United States. This video was selected in an attempt to provoke thoughtful conversations among the mostly White teacher candidates about race issues in hopes of illuminating the following questions:. Between 1980 and 2008, the percentage of Whites in comparison with the total population declined
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